We’ve finally gotten some rain again. It hasn’t amounted to much but it has helped, especially since the irrigation system in two sections of the garden is temporarily broken. That means I’m shuttling watering cans from the cistern in Cascara Circle to sections B and C as well as adjacent borders. When it’s warm and sunny, that’s a lot of shuttling. It’s a bit like CrossFit except I get paid to do it (and usually don’t get injured).
Most of the beds are planted, at least minimally. There are still more plants to go in but I’m waiting for the smallest seedlings to get a bit larger. The garden shed, where I leave my flats and empty pots after planting, is a bit disorganized at the moment. I’ll wait until everything is planted and then do a thorough cleanup. No, really. If you pass by and look in, don’t worry, everything is going to be fine.
Crime scene? No, just a working garden shed in May.
Another view of the chaos.
If you view last year’s posts from around this time, you’ll get a good idea of what is flowering, but here’s some new bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) in section E, donated by a friend of the Medicinal Herb Garden who lives on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Thanks, Dawn!
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), an understory plant of the forests from eastern and central Canada and the USA.
The herons are holding their own in the rookery, north of section D. That said, the eagles are around and causing a ruckus when they fly low over campus. They have a taste for young herons.
Believe it or not, the tamarillos are still not quite ripe, though they are ripening. They’re redder on the south and east sides of the fruit than on the north and west. I swear I’m going to eat one soon.
View of tamarillos (Solanum betacea) from the east.
Wherever you are, if you’re in the northern hemisphere, it is spring and you should get outside if you can. Though I sometimes whine about going to work, spring reminds me of how lucky I am to work in a garden. Here are some recent photographs.
Steps between sections A and B, ensconced in an unruly border of mostly perennials. Those are English yews (Taxus baccata) at the top of the steps.
Peonies (Paeonia lactiflora) and French roses (Rosa gallica) in the foreground.
Purple smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria ‘Purpureus’) with an understory of garden sage (Salvia officinalis) north of section B.
Xeriscape bed with flowering snowbush (Ceanothus cordulatus). Soon, in another month or so, the prickly pears (Opuntia spp.) will be flowering.
Mixed border between sections A and B.
Welsh onions (Allium fistulosum) in section A.
Maralroot (Leuzea carthamoides) displaying its first flower of the year. I can’t shake the image of Siberian reindeer munching on these spring flowers as they emerge, with snow still on the ground.
Mountain bistort (Polygonum bistorta), a close cousin of our own mountain bistort (Polygonum bistortoides) whose Latin name tells us it was discovered by Westerners after P. bistorta. The suffix, oides, means ‘like or resembling’.
Western wallflower (Erysimum asperum). Can’t have too many of these.
Orange honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa) slowly encircling Cascara Circle. Fine with me.
Salal (Gaultheria shalon) berries are good eating but the flowers are also worth a visit. Now is the time.
A few feet from the salal in Cascara Circle is the Nootka rose (Rosa nutkana). They have the largest hips of the Washington native roses. And their flowers are fragrant.
That’s the news. I hope you can make it by the herb garden, but if not, I hope you can get outside. It’s amazing what a springtime walk in the fresh air can do for your spirit.
too much, not enough
that’s the way that rain comes down
the wise laugh it off
See you in the garden.